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Category

Should Men Walk Home? (1927)

Synopsis
by Janiss Garza

This Hal Roach two-reel comedy was Mabel Normand's last feature film (she left the Roach studios after its completion and died three years later, a victim of tuberculosis). Normand plays a burglar who meets another crook (Creighton Hale), and the two decide to join forces. They attend a society soiree, but their behavior marks them as outsiders and the detective who has been assigned to protect a valuable jewel (Eugene Pallette) keeps a close eye on them. The male crook manages to distract the detective long enough for the girl thief to steal the brooch. When the gem turns up missing, the detective chases after the thieves who constantly hide the brooch and retrieve it again. Eventually, with the help of a toddler, the brooch is returned to its rightful owner. The crooks promise the detective that they will go straight, and as the male thief shakes his hand, a load of silverware falls from his sleeve. One of the film's funniest bits involves Normand and Oliver Hardy, who plays a thirsty guest who can't seem to get a glass of punch because the jewel has been placed in the punch bowl and Normand uses several comic ways of harassing him to keep him away.